Category Archives: Nuus News

After attending the International Trade and Finance Association (IT&FA’s) 27th International Conference at the Poznan University of Economics and Business, Poznan, Poland, Anmar Pretorius and Derick Blaauw traveled to the Jönköping University in Sweden. There they met colleagues from the Economics Department. The type and scope of data available to scholars in Sweden was just mind boggling. The Department has access to a panel of 25 years covering each individual citizen and firm level data. Scholars from the United States and several other countries regularly visit the Department to work with the rich data set.

Anmar and Derick also met up with a former colleague from Monash South Africa, Prof Adele Berndt, who is currently working at the Jönköping International Business School. The aim of the visit was to discuss possible research synergies in the field of renewable energy projects (both in Sweden and in South Africa) and investigate other possible research opportunities for the future. The outcome was several productive brainstorming and work sessions over a five day period. A possible project, working title and timeline for the research has been identified and the corroboration will be taken further in due course.

In the latest issue of the South African Journal of Economics Derek Yu, Atoko Kasongo and Mariana Moses examine the performance of South African Economics departments over the period 2005 to 2014. They compare staff profiles, courses and the curriculum, as well as research activities. Whether you are a prospective student looking to join a good school, or an alumnus looking for bragging rights, it makes for an interesting read. So how does the NWU’s Potchefstroom campus measure up?

On the teaching side we have the same core modules that everyone is offering, like Macro, Micro, Public Economics, or Econometrics, but no niche modules like Game Theory, or Health Economics, or Economic History. The article missed our specialisations in International Trade and in Risk Management (4 modules each). And since the data were collected we also added the Agricultural economics programme. That is quite a bit of variety.

On the research side we are punching above our weight. For a relatively small group of staff members we are well qualified and publishing articles. We were 16 full time academics when Derek collected the data (compared to 23 at UP, 30 at Stellenbosch, and 38 at UCT) and 11 of the 16 had PhDs. Currently we are 19 when you add the agricultural economists and all three have PhDs. We have also added one more NRF rating for a total of 4 rated researchers. In terms of research output per capita per annum we ranked 5th, just after Stellenbosch and just before UJ.

Writing as the School director, I have to say that a result like this humbles me. I am thankful for the hard work of a dedicated team. Keep up the good work everyone!

UJ’s Department of Economics and Econometrics held their annual prize giving function on Friday 31 March 2017. At the function Anmar Pretorius received an award as the first placed PhD student from all students graduating in the department in 2016. In the photograph Anmar is joined by colleagues from UJ: Prof Joel Hinaunye Eita and Dr Kwame Osei-Assibey. The function took place at the Johannesburg Country Club with Dr Melanie van Rooy, Marketing director of Makro SA, as the guest speaker. Her presentation offered very interesting insights into the analysis and use of big data in planning marketing strategies.

The first quarter of 2017 was also a big one for students in the School of Economics. The highlights include:

Greg Foggit presented his research at the SAFA conference. Since the post in January, Greg has obtained his PhD!

Mosima Ngwenya did us proud at the Nedbank/Old Mutual Budget Speech competition. Since then she has also been awarded an ERSA scholarship for the Master’s degree studies.

Proff Henri Bezuidenhout and Sonja Grater took the International Trade honours group to Pick ‘n Pay’s distribution centre in Modderfontein, Johannesburg. The aim was to see large-scale and sophisticated logistics and supply chain management up close. This is the biggest centre in the country and supplies to the northern provinces, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho.

These two lecturers are again running their industry buddy programme this year and all three honours groups have written the Gallup Strengths Finder test and have received a coaching session on how to use those strengths.